UT football: Pity for Texas A&M?

Justin Tucker (19) helped give the Longhorns all-time bragging rights over the Aggies in the final meeting. (Brett Coomer/Chronicle)

AUSTIN — With a national ranking in the Top 10 and a Heisman Trophy frontrunner for a quarterback, Texas A&M looks like it emerged from its divorce with Texas just fine.

But as A&M’s old rivals prepared for their first Thanksgiving apart, at least one Texas player suggested the sentiment behind the Longhorns’ traditional “Poor Aggies!” chant remains.

“Honestly, I feel sorry for A&M,” UT defensive end Alex Okafor said. “We still have a big-time (Thanksgiving) game, and they’re missing out.”

Before A&M departed the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, UT and the Aggies played 118 times, with most of those meetings coming on Thanksgiving weekend.

This week, the No. 17 Longhorns will host TCU on Thanksgiving night, and they hope to continue playing on the holiday on an annual basis. UT’s regular-season schedule is booked until 2018, and athletic director DeLoss Dodds said there are no plans to schedule the Aggies in the future.

UT defensive back Kenny Vaccaro said he misses playing A&M and would love the chance to do it again. But for the most part, the Longhorns insisted they’re ready to move on after last year’s 27-25 victory in College Station.

“A&M was a good rivalry,” UT safety Adrian Phillips said. “And we ended it the way it was supposed to be ended.”